26
LINK Issue No.10 June/July 2006
Wine Master says ‘cheers’ to traceability than 60 countries. It’s a truly global business operation. Mr Goodband is Consultant Master of Wine with Constellation Brands Inc and Chair of the International Committee on Wine Traceability Guidelines. Constellation Brands is the largest wine company in the world, with annual sales exceeding US$5 billion. It is a leading wine producer in the United States and in Australasia, and Britain’s biggest wine importer and distributor. Constellation Brands knows that it must be good at supply chain management, in fact very good. This is a company with 40 production facilities worldwide, ownership of famous wine labels (including Hardys in Australia and Nobilo in New Zealand), and a sales network in more
Supply chain systems have long had a high priority. Constellation Brands has been meticulous at continuously aligning product, location, order and invoicing information with the movement of goods, and with the needs of trading partners. In recent times, the company has begun putting greater emphasis on risk management in its supply chain processes and on product traceability.
Risk Management Recent food safety scares – BSE, the red dye Sudan 1 and illegal additives to name a few – have alarmed consumers worldwide and fuelled their questions: “What am I actually consuming?”, “Where has it come from?” and so on. Suppliers, retailers and regulators have responded, by tightening up on food labeling and traceability systems and by coming to the realisation that food safety is not a competitive issue. In 2002, the European Parliament responded to a shocking event of dioxin contamination in the human food chain by passing European Law 178:2002, often known as the EU Food Law. In response to this landmark legislation, the international wine and liquor industry set up a committee of experts to
establish a code of practice for traceability in the wine sector. Members of this working group included representatives from AFED (France), Allied Domecq, Distell (South Africa), E&J Gallo (Europe / USA), Henkell Sohnlein (Germany), Les Grands Chais (France), Waverley Group (UK) and WSA (UK), and also several representatives from GS1. One of the group’s biggest challenges was agreeing on a model for the industry that would adequately encompass all combinations of global supply chain “touch points”. Once these were modelled, a process for gathering information via automatic data capture (GS1 bar codes or EPC/RFID as appropriate)
Want a quick reference to the GS1 Australia Alliance Partners & EPCglobal Australian Solution Providers? Source everything you need to implement the GS1 System from our Alliance Partner Community. All Alliance Partners are accredited by GS1 Australia so members can be confident that their solutions are GS Standard compliant, proven & effective. GS1 Australia also has an EPCglobal Solution Provider Community who are helping to lead the development
of industry-driven standards for the Electronic Product Code™ (EPC) to support the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in today’s fast-moving, information rich trading networks. If you would like to know more about either of these partner communities a copy of the latest Alliance Partner or EPCglobal Solution Providers flyer, please contact Melissa Andrews on 1300 366 033.